When Eric Musselman first saw the schedule the Mountain West dealt his team, he immediately noticed the final stretch, a run of six games that included road contests at Boise State, Utah State, UNLV and San Diego State.

“I was just wondering if the league office liked us or not,” Musselman joked before adding, "It’s as difficult a six-game stretch that we’ve had since I’ve been here."

Truth is, Musselman said, everybody has to play those tough road games. But, Nevada has them stacked together at the end of the season, and if his team is going to repeat as Mountain West champions, it will have to go survive that end-of-the-season gauntlet, which starts Wednesday night at Boise State.

The Wolf Pack (21-5, 10-2 MW) enters that game against the Broncos (20-5, 10-3) with the slimmest of leads in the MW standings. The winner of Wednesday’s game will sit in first place in the conference with just 2½ weeks remaining in the regular season. A Nevada victory would give the Wolf Pack a two-game advantage in the loss column (and the head-to-head tiebreaker) with just five games left on its schedule.

A Wolf Pack win could prove to be the fatal blow for Boise State, which has stuck beside Nevada all season.

“We know what’s at stake,” Nevada guard Kendall Stephens said. “We definitely do. They’re just a tough team, especially at home. In this conference, any road game is a game you need. If we did win this, it will separate us and put us where we need to be. We just have to go in there and execute our game plan.”

The Boise State-Utah State road trip – Nevada is unsure if it will return to Reno after the first game or bus from Boise to Logan – will test the Wolf Pack. Those two opponents are a combined 23-3 at home this season, with Boise State being the only MW team perfect at home this year (13-0).

The Broncos also have the favorite to win the MW player of the year award in guard Chandler Hutchison, who scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting against Nevada in a 74-68 loss in Reno earlier this season.

After that game, Hutchison told the Idaho Statesman and Idaho Press-Tribune, “We don’t feel like we got beat by a better team. We feel like we had some mental errors you can’t have on the road.”

Boise State will get the chance to back up that statement against a Nevada team that swept the Broncos last season and is looking to do the same this season. Slowing down Hutchison, who has vaulted himself into consideration as a first-round draft pick with a strong senior season, will be key for the Wolf Pack.

“He’s a really good player,” Stephens said. “You just have to put a lot of focus on him. Our goal is to make the other players beat us. We know he can win games for them, but putting pressure on other players is our game plan.”

Said Musselman: “Hutchison has a good game against everybody. I’ve watched all their games and even if he’s struggling for 20-some minutes all of a sudden he goes on a run at the end of the game or gets himself shots or gets other people shots. When you think about why a guy is a tough cover, it’s usually because he can create his own shot when plays break down, and that’s what Chandler Hutchison does.”

While Boise State’s scoring star is playing at the highest level of his career, Nevada’s top player, Caleb Martin, is nursing a foot sprain that was expected to keep him out multiple weeks. Instead, Martin was back on the court after missing only one game and is expected to play against the Broncos, although he’s still not 100 percent, Musselman said, although the coach expects him to play.

“He’s in a boot today,” Musselman said prior to Monday’s practice. “It’s day-by-day how it feels. I thought he’d be walking around going to class today in tennis shoes and he’s not. We’re not doing a Patriots Bill Belichick. We’re keeping everything close to the vest, but I just don’t know. It’s still bothering him. It’s not like we’re out of the clear and he’s feeling fresh.”

The Wolf Pack lost the one game Martin missed, falling to rival UNLV to snap a 16-game home win streak, before bouncing back with a 25-point win over San Diego State on Saturday.

Wolf Pack forward Jordan Caroline compared the UNLV loss to one suffered at Utah State last season, which served as a wake-up call that sparked the Wolf Pack to a strong close to the season, which included nine straight wins heading into the NCAA Tournament as Nevada captured the MW regular-season and tournament titles. Caroline is hoping for another strong close following the UNLV setback.

“I look at it a lot like when we lost to Utah State last year and then went on a tear,” Caroline said. “I got the same feeling when we lost to UNLV this year. Hopefully that continues and that mentality keeps carrying on.”

Boise State has been locked in a number of close battles in MW play this season. The Broncos are coming off a 71-65 loss at Utah State on Saturday but are 6-3 in conference games decided by six points or fewer this season. Nine of Boise State’s last 10 games have been decided by six points or less and another close battle is expected against Nevada.

“Give Boise State a ton of credit in the fact that they’ve won a lot of close games because they’re so well coached and they know their roles and they never think they’re out of the game,” Musselman said. “We couldn’t respect the Broncos any more than we do. We think they’ve had an unbelievable season.”